Computer networked calendar

Abstract

A calendar system is disclosed that allows a user to create his or her own account, to join or be joined to an organization for staffing and/or scheduling purposes, to use the account for calendar or scheduling outside of the organization, and to retain at least a portion of the calendar database after severing membership with the organization. Embodiments of the present invention allow a user to indicate said user's availability for work or participation differently for the various organizations to which the user belongs.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for effecting a software computer calendar system comprising:
 creating and modifying user accounts and organization accounts in a software account manager module;   storing user data and storing organization data in one or more data stores;   joining user accounts to organization accounts in a software connection manager module, wherein user accounts can be joined to a plurality of organization accounts;   severing user accounts from organization accounts in the software connection manager module, wherein user accounts survive after being severed from organization accounts;   accepting user input comprising at least one time range to define a state of availability data of a user to participate in an event for at least one organization to which the user is joined, whereby the state of availability data can indicate user availability differently for different organizations in a software availability manager module;   accessing state of availability data of users joined to an organization and providing the state of availability data of the joined users for the specific organization to present data to the organization representing availabilities of users, in a software scheduling manager module; and   accepting input from an organization to book available users to create schedules in a software scheduling manager module.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising in said scheduling manager accepting user input from an organization to book users in a given time slot whose availability data indicates availability for participation without requiring acceptance by said users. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 2 , further comprising in said scheduling manager accepting user input from an organization to invite users to participate in a given time slot whose availability data does not indicate availability for participation and requires acceptance by said users for booking. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising accepting user input to accept an invitation to an event from an organization in a software event booker manager module. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said state of availability data comprises data defining at least one time range for participation as well as at least one condition for participation. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 5 , wherein said condition comprises a maximum time limit for participation within at least one time range. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 5 , wherein said condition comprises a desired time amount for participation within at least one time range. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 5 , wherein said condition comprises a preferred time range for participation. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising in the software scheduling manager module accepting input to create and to edit one or more tentative schedules and booking available users in accordance with edited tentative schedules that are considered finalized. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising in the event booker manager module is further configured to accept user input to create an event not associated with an organization. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the scheduling manager module is further configured to indicate to said organization information regarding suitability of a schedule. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 11 , wherein said suitability comprises potential labor law or union rule violations. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , further comprising a record manager module configured to accept input from an organization about users for storing record data in association with users in an organization data store. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 13 , wherein the scheduling manager module is further configured to process said record data to indicate to said organization information regarding suitability of a schedule, and said suitability comprises inter-employee compatibility and/or employee-management compatibility. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the account manager module is configured to allow a new user to create his or her own account. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein said user accounts maintain calendar data after being severed from all organizations by said connection manager module. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein an organization account is integrated with a user account. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein at least some of said organization accounts represent employers and at least some of said user accounts represent employees. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method as defined in  claim 18 , wherein some of said user accounts of said employees are joined to organization accounts of two or more said employers. 
     
     
         20 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable memory storing computer executable instructions thereon that when executed by a computer perform the method steps of  claim 1 .